**PRESS RELEASE**
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, November 16, 2006Contact:
Matt Losak, 301-431-5453
NATIONAL LABOR COLLEGE PROFESSORS AUTHOR REPORT ON RAIL SAFETY
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB SYMPOSIUM ATTENDED BY CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP, RAILWAY EXPERTS
Silver Spring, MD - More than 1.8 million shipments of hazardous materials using 100,000 railway tank cars are subject to massive vulnerabilities, including terrorism, according to a study written by National Labor College professors Ruth Ruttenberg and Brenda Cantrell with another researcher, Maria Lazo. The study was commissioned by Citizens for Rail Safety, Inc. (CRS) and was released at a National Rail Safety Symposium held at The National Press Club in Washington, DC on November 15th. The program featured an expert panel discussion on the safety of our railways with industry experts, political leaders and transportation scholars.
"We need security plans and security training for rail employees," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House's Homeland Security, and who is expected to chair that committee come January. "It baffles me why the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has failed to act. We need to ensure our rail workers get the training they need."
The study, Training in Hazmat and Rail Security: Current Status and Future Needs of Rail Workers and Community Members, examines the massive vulnerabilities to terrorism and other security risks of today’s railroads that transport 1.8 million shipments of hazardous materials every year, using 100,000 tank cars, filled with such chemicals as chlorine, anhydrous ammonia, cyanide compounds, flammable liquids and pesticides. The result is one million tons of hazardous material being moving across the nation daily. Every day tank cars filled with hazardous materials travel by homes, schools, and hospitals, and through the middle of cities and along highways. (full text of report).
"With approximately two million rail shipments of hazardous materials and hundreds of toxic releases each year, there is a compelling need to ensure that rail workers, emergency responders, and community residents are well-trained and well-educated," said Dr. Ruth Ruttenberg of the National Labor College. “This study addresses the current status of rail hazardous materials training and what is needed to adequately prepare for both prevention and response.”
“We’ve trained over 20,000 rail employees across the United States,” said Brenda Cantrell, director of the hazardous materials training program at the NLC. “Often our students tell us how they learn more about hazardous materials in the first few hours of our class than they do after years of working on the rails.”
CRS, a national non-profit public interest organization comprised of transportation consultants and concerned citizens advocating for national railroad safety and efficiency, is a member-supported organization. Since its inception in 2005, CRS has commissioned two white papers with another two underway. To learn more about CRS visit www.citizensforrailsafety.org.
“The NLC’s hazmat training program has been highly successful in meeting the needs of railway workers for more than 16 years,” said Susan J. Schurman, NLC president. “Thanks to the work of professors Ruttenberg and Cantrell in this program and in producing this study, the NLC will continue to contribute to this urgently needed work.”
Established as a training center by AFL-CIO in 1969 to strengthen union member education and organizing skills, the NLC is now the nation’s only accredited higher education institution devoted exclusively to educating union leaders, members and activists. The NLC became a degree granting college in 1997. The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an independent, regional accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
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